Maruti, Axis Bank help Indian shares break 5-day losing streak

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares snapped their worst losing streak in more than 10 months on Tuesday, helped by top domestic car maker Maruti Suzuki soaring on better-than-expected margins and Axis Bank on the back of strong earnings.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.75% higher at 17,277.95, while the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.64% to 57,858.15, after five straight sessions of heavy losses driven by foreign investor selling.

The indexes fell as much as 1.9% earlier in the session, in line with global peers, driven by tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine and expectations of a more hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve. [MKTS/GLOB]

Maruti Suzuki posted a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly profit. But its shares surged 6.8% as a series of price hikes last year, aimed at mitigating rising material costs, helped improve margins.

Axis Bank ended 6.8% higher on its best day in nearly a year after the private-sector lender beat estimates for quarterly profit.

Oil-to-retail conglomerate Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company, settled 0.2% lower after falling as much as 3% earlier in the session.

The Nifty IT index, the biggest casualty of the recent sell-off, ended down 0.33%, marking its seventh straight session of losses.

Among individual stocks, India's No. 2 telecom operator Bharti Airtel climbed 3.2% after saying it would consider a preferential share issue. Local media reported that Alphabet Inc's Google may subscribe to the issue.

Nifty component Cipla closed up 1.5% ahead of its quarterly results.

Indian markets are closed on Wednesday for a holiday and will resume trading on Thursday.

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)